Youssef Chahine 1926-2008

The legendary filmmaker and doyen of Arab cinema, Youssef Chahine died today, after having lapsed into a coma on June 14th, after suffering a brain haemorrage. He was taken to the American hospital in Neuilly outside of Paris. He was flown back to Egypt on July 16th , and warded at the Maádi military hospital in Cairo when he passed away this morning.

Chahine´s career in filmaking began in 1950 with Baba Amin , after returning from studying film in Pasadena California. He´s first international success came in 1951 with Ibn al Nil(Son of the Nile), which contested at the Cannes film festival, it was the beginning of a mutual love story between Chahine and the Cannes Festival, crowned when he recieved the Cannes Lifetime achievement award in 1997. He´s first international award came with Bab al Hadid(The Train Station) in 1958 at the Berlin film festival were he was awarded the golden bear. He´s last film came had it´s Egyptian premiere last year - Heya Fawda(Chaos). He was the Ingemar Bergman of Arab film.

Chahine´s filmatization of Abd al Rahman´s classic novel al Ard(The Earth)1969 and his very own Alexandria Quartet, a autobiographical chronicle about his beloved home city and equally his love story with American Film of the 1940´s, beginning with Iskanderiya leh? 1978(Alexandria Why?), Haduta Masriyya 1982(An Egyptian Story) Iskaneriya Kaman wa kaman 1989(Alexandria , Again and Forever) and ending with Iskanderiya-New York(Alexandria-New York) is also among his most important work.

He also played an instrumental part in the career´s of Egyptian movie icons, and love birds Omar Sharif and Faten Hamema.

He was an inspiration to me, and one of my proudest moments as a blogger was when my article on Chahine was posted on his official website.

My condolencces to his family. May God rest his soul.

More on this later

Youssef Chahine in coma

According to the BBC, Youssef Chahine has lapsed into a coma , after suffering a brain haemorrhage. Chahine has been flown to France for further medical treatment.

UPDATE: Chanine recieved a head injury a forthnight ago, and on saturday he lapsed into a coma. Apparently he was taken to Ash Shuruq hospital at first, where the doctors diagnosed the brain haemorrhage, he was moved to an intensive care unit, and they tried to stabilize it, something that was made difficult due to the fact that Chahine was on blood thinning medicine. The decision was made to take him on a chartered flight out of Cairo with destination,the American Hospital in Neuilly outside of Paris, France.

The 82-year-old "is in a coma following a cerebral haemorrhage," Mohammed Abdel Daher of Ash-Shuruq hospital in Cairo told Egypt's MENA news agency on Sunday, adding that Chahine was in a "serious" condition.

President Hosni Mubarak said that the state would pay for the treatment in homage to Chahine´s contribution to Egyptian Cinema.

Chahine is the only Egyptian film maker with a world wide reputation, and has been in the film making business from 1950, and has given us films like Ibn al Nil(Son of the Nile) in 1951 who got him his firt taste of Cannes, Bab al Hadid 1958(The train Station), Al Naser Sallah ad Din 1963(Sallah ad Din , the Victorious) the filmatization of Abd al Rahman al Sharqawi´s al Ard 1969(the Land), Chanine´s very own Alexandria Quartet, a autobiographical chronicle about his beloved home city and equally his love story with American Film (PDF), beginning with Iskanderiya leh? 1978(Alexandria Why?), Haduta Masriyya 1982(An Egyptian Story) Iskaneriya Kaman wa kaman 1989(Alexandria , Again and Forever) and ending with Iskanderiya-New York(Alexandria-New York) in 2004, Adieu Bonaparte 1985, al Muhager 1995(The Emigrant), al Massir 1997(Destiny), al Akhar 1999(the Other) and his latest, Heya Fawda(Chaos) that recently made box office success, although less so with the critics.

He also played a crucial role in the careers of Egyptian movie Icons and love birds , Omar Sharif and Faten Hamama
.

More on his films can be found here and here

I´ll be updating as more information becomes available. Here is an old fustat entry on Chahine.

Let´s hope for the best and a speedy recovery for the doyen of Egyptian and Arab film, Uncle Joe.